Chapter 452: Jin’s Work (2/2)

Lithia doubted her ears. Hiring even a common freelancer magician (magi craftman or healer) would cost more than 10,000 toll for a day. And since he is the magi craft meister, she was expecting around 50,000 toll.

However, Jin took Lithia’s reaction in the opposite way.

“Ah-… Was it a bit too high?”

He asked. And since Elsa and Berthie normally do not deal with money related dealings, they did not know what would be a good price either and so they remained silent.

“N-no, it’s the opposite! I was wondering if it’s okay with it being that low…”

“Ah… Because it is Ms. Lithia, I’m offering a discount as a friend.”

Jin tried to gloss it over. However, to Jin’s surprise, Lithia was overjoyed to hear that.

“I-I see! …As a friend! Ufu, thank you very much!”

Elsa looked at their faces in succession and let out a sigh.

They decided to stay over at Toka Village that night.

As there was time left till dusk, Jin went on a walk around the village with Reiko.

“Oi, dont’ be so slow now, newbie!”

“Really, how clumsy.”

Jin looked at the direction from which such voices came and found the military post.

A 16-17 year old new soldier was being pushed by the senior soldiers.

“Oi, come on, bring it over already.”

The boy was carrying 5 man’s worth of baggage and was slowly keeping up behind the senior soldiers, almost staggering every now and then.

And just right before the military post, one of the leading senior soldiers kicked a log in front of the newbie.

Since he could not see his feet because of the baggage, he got caught in the log and fell over. And of course, he dropped all the stuff he was carrying as well.

“S-sorry…”

“Aahh, look what you did to the baggage. Now it’s all dirty.”

“I’m very sorry.”

“No dinner for you tonight.” the senior soldiers coldly said that before picking up their stuff from the baggage and left towards the post.

“…That’s terrible.”

It seems no matter where you go, there is always the senior-junior bullying. Jin couldn’t bear watching and so went to the young soldier’s side.

“You, are you okay?”

It seems the kid had hit his knee when he fell and could not quite get up.

“‘Cure’.”

He used healing magic on the kid. Jin could only do up to the basic level healing but it was effective enough.

“T-thank you very much. That helped a lot.”

The kid expressed his gratitude to Jin as he stood up and picked up the baggage again.

“Ah, wait a bit.”

Seeing the kid try and carry the remaining 4 soldiers’ baggage covered in dirt, Jin told the kid to wait.

“‘Cleanup’.”

A spell to get rid of the dirt. Seeing the baggage all cleaned up, the boy lowered his head again and expressed his thanks.

“T-Thank you very much! I-I am Fred. I became a soldier this year!”

“Fred, eh? I’m Jin.”

“Mr. Jin. Are you of this village?”

“No, I am from Kaina Village, it’s far north from here.”

“Eh? Kaina Village? …Jin… By chance, a-are you Mr. Jin Nidou?!”

“Yeah, that’s me…”

As he became a soldier in the neighboring Toka village, he had heard his fair share of Jin’s stories. And so, realizing that it was actually Jin, he almost dropped the baggage again.

“I-I’m sorry, excuse me!”

Fred skillfully bowed even while carrying the baggage and hurried towards the military post.

Even after returning back to Lithia’s mansion, Jin couldn’t help but think about that young kid named Fred.

When a new member joins a group like this which already has a defined system, there’s always trouble till they can mix in.

Even more so if it’s a soldier squad where it’s easy for stress to build up, thought Jin.

In the orphanage Jin belonged to, when a new kid came in, it always took some time for them to fit in with the others. Of course, it would differ from person to person, some would take more time, some would take less.

Jin was a senior back in the orphanage… since he was the oldest, he had seen his fair share of newcomers and made sure they got along well.

And to such a Jin, being concerned for Fred was only natural.

“Mr. Jin, did something happen?”

Gloria asked Jin during dinner. Jin told them about the scene which played out before him this evening.

“Hmm, today half of the soldiers were replaced but to think such a thing happened…”

As Gloria was the previous instructor, she took that hard.

“Let’s just keep an eye out for it casually.”

Lithia said.